Break the Rules!

School on Friday

The kid unlocked the door, letting Nathalie and Ivey in.

"You look terrible", Nathalie remarked, her voice full of worry.

"Thanks", Maran mumbled. "Have a great day you two. And Christen too", they said louder whilst leaving.

They nearly ran into Emem, as they walked around the corner of the street. The girl grabbed them by the shoulders, which made Maran hiss with pain.

"What. Fucking. Happened?", Emem demanded to know.

"It's nothing", Maran mumbled.

The girl groaned and pushed aside Marans cloak. "You call that 'nothing'?", she yelled in shock.

"I do call that something! I call that a stab through my shoulder! But I also call it none of your business because I don't want you to get hurt!", Maran yelled back, tears running out of their eyes. The kid swiped them away, they were angry. Not at Emem, not at William. The kid was angry at themself.

How could they have let all of this happen? Now Emem was in trouble too, because they couldn't keep their mouth shut. They hoped that William would leave their best friend alone, maybe they could get him to do so.

"Maran", the girl said quietly, her voice had something calming in it,"I'm here for you if you want to talk, ok?"

The kid nodded and hugged Emem tightly with just their right arm. But they quickly pulled away again.

"Shit, I think I need some new bandages", they confessed. Their best friend sighed and took their right hand.

"Let's get home", she said and pulled Maran with her.

Back at the flat, Emem helped Maran change into a pair of trousers. Then she carefully pulled off the old bandages and put on new ones, that held tighter and supported the shoulder. Then she pulled a big T-shirt over Marans head and fixed it for them.

"Thanks", Maran said,"Thank you for helping me all the time."

A few minutes later, they were on the bus to school. Maran didn't take anything with them, except for Goldie. Emem wouldn't let them take anything else, telling them they could borrow everything from her.

"I need to tell you something", Emem said quietly, and looked around. Maran waited for her to continue, which didn't take long:"I saw him."

The kids jaw dropped open. "When?", they hissed,"Where?"

Emem told them everything that had happened at the hospital, that their parents still were at the police station and how she went to pick up a new uniform for them.

Maran seemed to get paler with every sentence. "I just... slept through that?", they stuttered after a while. Emem nodded. Maran leaned against her. "Thank you so much.", they said.

Emem tried to stay as close as possible to Maran all day. Whilst entering the school, she wanted to complain about William, but Maran shushed her. They told her again, that they never knew if he was close. Emem grew even more worried after that.

A few hours later, the friends were on lunchbreak. Emem went to the buffet to get something to eat. Maran promised that they'd wait right where she left them.

A few moments after Emem left, Maran felt a hand pushing onto their hurt shoulder. A soft whine escaped their lips.

"You better show up tonight", William growled into the kids' ear.

"How did you know?", Maran asked cautiously. They had been thinking about just not doing after hours. Their week started Monday and ended Friday, but they could come in at the weekend for a bit extra money.

"I'm not dumb kid", he said, his voice full of anger. Pushing right onto the hurt spot, he said:"See you in a few hours." With that, he just left again.

When Emem came back, the two ate the sandwiches she brought. Then they went to the next class.

On the way home, two hours later, Emem asked:"Are you gonna go tonight?"

Maran sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I have to", they replied. Emem groaned.

As they got off the bus a few minutes later, the girl yelled:"I know you're around here! Give them a break, god damn it!"

"Shh!", Maran sounded distressed,"I just told you to stay out of this!"

Emem looked at them lovingly, then sighed. "I'd never be able live without you", she confessed.

"You better manage that, I don't want to see you dead right after me. Life the best live you can Queen. Even if it is without me.", they replied, a single tear escaping them. Then the two went into the flat.

Emem changed the bandages once more, then she left her friend alone.

The alarm rang the same time as the days before, and Maran stumbled out of bed. They took a shower, brushed their teeth, grabbed their cloak, the plushies and the keys and left.

As they went inside, they almost expected William to be already waiting for them. But they couldn't see him and so they locked the door and went to their office.